Food processing is commonly understood to include canning, freezing and dehydrating, which permits foods to be stored for prolonged periods of time without alterating the taste, flavor or texture thereof.
The causes of food spoilage fall into two major classes: changes brought about by reactions of the food itself, and changes due to outside sources. The first type of spoilage results from the chemical reactions promoted by enzymes normally found in the particular food product. The second type is largely related to microorganisms generally present in the environment. A general method used to avoid spoilage is sterilization which comprises applying a mild thermal treatment for a specified period, thus destroying pathogenic microorganisms. However, there are many cases where sterilization, even for a short period of time, affects the taste of the treated food.
Another known method of preventing spoilage is by storing products, such as the tehina sauce product, under cool temperatures, as well as adding known food preservatives to food products to inhibit the undesired spoiling reactions. This method also has disadvantages connected with unknown reactions over time as well as possible accumulation of the preservatives in the human body.
Sesame seed, which is the starting material in the manufacture of tehina sauce, is a known oil seed which contains between from about 45% to about 63% edible oil and from about 16% to about 32% protein. In the Middle-East, the tehina is used as a seed sauce, which also contains water and additives. It is prepared from sesame seed paste, which is produced by dehulling the seeds, drying, roasting and grinding the seeds into a pourable liquid. Due to the large quantities used, tehina sauce is produced by many manufacturers in the form of an emulsion. This tehina sauce is packaged in cans, plastic or metal containers of various sizes. In order to increase the shelf life of the product, a thermal treatment, known as sterilization is applied, or various preservative additives known in the art, are introduced to the product prior to packaging. However, the taste of the resulting tehina sauce is significantly affected, and results in a lower quality product than a freshly prepared tehina paste.
Therefore, there is a long felt need to provide a new method for the manufacture of tehina sauce, which will still possess the original taste after long periods of storage.
It is an object of the present invention, to provide a new method for the manufacture of ready to eat tehina sauce, which has an extended shelf life. It is another object of the present invention, to provide a new method for the manufacture of a ready to eat tehina sauce which possesses a long shelf life, but does not contain any added preservatives.